Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. A certain shonen-ai pairing would be undoubtedly canon if I did. XD
A/N: Thanks a million to KiraUzamaki for reviewing, Hikari-letal-blood for reviewing and Alerting, and puretrickster for Favoriting!! Domo arigato!!
Summarizing will occur here (and probably later), so I don't bore you to death with descriptions of fights that you've already read. Plus, I don't feel like writing all the details of the dang scenes. Hope nobody minds.
Chapter Six: Of Eyeballs and Gender Confusion
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We reached land with a distinct lack of any further incidents.
Tazuna's friend all but kicked us off his boat and rowed away quicker than was necessary. We started walking down a tree-bordered path towards the actual village. I observed the leafy greenness, wondering if Mist was the only village on the face of the planet that didn't have trees everywhere you looked.
Naruto was looking back and forth rapidly, as if he had seen an attacker. Or was looking for one. Just as I noticed this, he suddenly whipped out a shuriken and flung it into a nearby bush, shouting, "There!!"
We all jumped; I reached for a kunai knife, but then it occurred to us that there had been no response of any kind to the blond's attack. No yell of pain, no rustling of the bushes, no nothing. Naruto attempted to look cool and shrugged it off, saying, "Oh, must've been a rat."
I was so very tempted to punch him in the face for freaking everybody out like that, but I kept reminding myself: Be more mature…more mature…
Minutes later, I thought I heard a rustling sound coming from a different bush. I had a better reaction time, thanks to Naruto's scare putting me on guard. Apparently he heard it too, because we both simultaneously threw weapons into the bush.
Fortunately, I wasn't just being paranoid-we had hit something. Unfortunately, that something was a rabbit.
Oh, crap…poor bunny.. I gently removed my now-bloody kunai and backed off to clean it, feeling ill all over again. And somewhat embarrassed. Saki, the Great Slayer of Rabbits…yeah, that'll go over well.
"Everyone, get down now!" Kakashi yelled.
I hit the deck and glanced up just in time to see a huge blade fly right through where our heads had just been. The-sword?-embedded itself into a tree, where it was jumped on by a man. He had dark hair that had been roughly cut short, bandages wrapped around the bottom half of his face, and eyes like ice. A forehead protector was tied sideways around his head, and I didn't need to see the slashed mark it bore in order to know who he was. Kasu and Ika had undoubtedly recognized him as well.
"If it isn't Mist's notorious missing nin," Kakashi observed casually. "Momochi Zabuza."
I swallowed. Knew it. A few feet away, my teammates were looking apprehensive. I didn't blame them. This guy was infamous in Kiri. A bloody, living legend.
"Everyone step back," Kakashi ordered. "This guy's on a whole new level. Against him, it'll be very difficult if I don't use this.." He started to lift up the side of his forehead protector, which always obscured his left eye. Use what? Your eyeball? I thought. Are you going to try and scare him off with the Bloodshot Eye of Death or something??
"You appear to be Kakashi of the Sharingan, the Copycat Ninja." Zabuza delivered Kakashi's titles in a chill-inducing tone. Feeling more than a little bit clueless, I wondered what the Sharingan was. The Uchiha had looked shocked when he heard it. "Sorry," Zabuza continued, "but the old man is mine."
I took a step sideways, so that defending Tazuna would be easier if Zabuza attempted a direct attack. But the move was out of instinct only-I knew it would do no good. If Zabuza wanted to get to Tazuna and kill him, he would probably do so. I would be less than powerless to stop him. But it was my job to try anyway.
"Protect Tazuna-san," Kakashi told us. "Do not leave your positions. I'll take care of Zabuza." He finished revealing his eye, which had a scar running through it-a sword wound, it looked like. I couldn't make out the details at my distance, but I knew that eye was different. It had gone red, and there were bits of black as well. That's..more than bloodshot, I thought. That's extremely bloodshot.
But how the heck was an eye in some serious need of eye drops going to help us?
"Ah, the famous Sharingan already? I'm honored," Zabuza commented.
That's the Sharingan? I had heard of powerful ocular jutsus before, but they were rare-usually Kekkai Genkais. Obviously this was one, but why did Kakashi have it in only one eye? That wasn't normal, was it? And more importantly, what did it do?
"What the hell is the Sharingan!?" Naruto exclaimed. My thoughts exactly.
"It's an ocular jutsu that allows you to 'read' and therefore defeat any Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, or Taijutsu your opponent uses," the Emo Kid informed him, sounding a bit shaken. "But it also has the ability to copy an opponent's moves."
"It's usually a Kekkai Genkai," Ika added. "A technique passed down in-and only in-the prestigious Uchiha clan."
The Emo Kid twitched but did not elaborate. Neither did Ika. I frowned. "An Uchiha technique? Then why does Kakashi have it?" Everyone's eyes flew to Kakashi, but he offered no answer.
"Enough talking," Zabuza ordered. "I have to kill that old man. But it seems, Kakashi..I'll have to kill you first." He kicked off from his sword-perch at lightning speed, and hit the water. Uh, sorry, make that, stood on top of the water. "Hidden Mist Jutsu," he stated, making a hand sign. And then he vanished.
No-seriously. As in, poof, gone.
"As a former member of Kirigakure's ANBU force, Zabuza is an expert on quick and silent killing. And I can't use the Sharingan perfectly, so you all need to be careful," Kakashi warned.
"This mist is getting thicker!!" Naruto yelled out the obvious; the fog had been thickening ever since Zabuza had vanished. We could barely see five inches in front of ourselves anymore; if we attacked, we were more likely to kill a teammate than the enemy.
"Eight choices." A cold, calm voice; the source indisputable but invisible. The creep was really enjoying himself. "Liver..lungs..spine…clavical vein..neck vein..brain…kidneys…heart. Which should I go for first?" I shivered involuntarily. He's going to kill us. He's going to kill us right here and now, and we won't even realize we're dead. I braced myself for the feel of cold, sharp metal on any one of the aforementioned vital spots.
Kakashi's hands moved abruptly. He was signing. What for? I thought, irritated that he was wasting his time and chakra. It's not like he can see well enough to aim anything.. But the thought was cut off as a new feeling shoved away the irritation. Something new, some intensity was radiating from Kakashi, filling the air with stiflingly heavy apprehension. Danger. A warning.
I was terrified. I'm going to be killed, I thought, and not even by Zabuza. Kakashi will strike me down where I stand if I so much as twitch. It was his fighting intensity, the silent power of a Jonin that could crush weak opponents without the shinobi having to lift a finger. This was the aura of a true death-dealer, and it was seriously scary.
From the looks on the faces of everyone around me, they were feeling the same way. Even the Uchiha had fear written plainly on his face-a sight I would have relished if I wasn't so frickin' scared.
"Sasuke, relax." I blinked, feeling the death-aura lighten by the smallest fraction at Kakashi's calm tone. "Don't worry. I will protect you all with my life." The Uchiha was blushing-probably embarrassed that his sensei had singled him out for comforting. I couldn't help smirking. Oh, the blackmail opportunities..if only I had a camera..
Kakashi turned slightly, so that we could see his face, and smiled. "I will never let my comrades die," he declared cheerily. Even though the words were most likely meant for his own team, they sure as heck made me feel better as well.
"We will see about that."
Movement behind me. I turned and felt my eyes almost fall out of my head. Zabuza had reappeared-right between Tazuna and all of us. He was inside of our defense formation. Ahh!! Bad, bad, very very bad!!!
Kakashi came out of nowhere, knocking down the Genin who couldn't get out of the way fast enough (read: me, Naruto, and Kasu), and delivering a hard blow to Zabuza's stomach. Or at least a water clone that looked exactly like Zabuza. The real (?) thing pounced from behind, slicing right through Kakashi's body-which promptly disintegrated into a watery puddle. The real (again, ?) Kakashi was behind Zabuza, and held a kunai to his throat.
"It's over," the Jonin stated.
And the rogue ninja began to laugh.
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Explaining the whole fight (which I'm still not sure I get, myself) would take forever, so I'll more-or-less summarize.
Turned out the Zabuza that Kakashi had at his mercy wasn't the real one either (shocker). An 'epic' battle ensued, yada yada.
Zabuza trapped Kakashi in a Water Prison jutsu (which in itself showed how qualified the guy used to be-Water Prisons by law can only be attempted by higher-ranked shinobi in Kiri) and sent a clone at us Genin. Kakashi gave the (panicked, I might add) order to make ourselves scarce, but the clone had already gotten to Naruto, who did eventually back off.
Somehow, Zabuza decided to launch into this long-winded explanation of why we should fear him and blah-blah-blah. He and Kakashi basically gave us a narration of his past-more specifically, the infamous Graduation Exam. Ages ago in Mist, the only way to graduate was to win a fight to the death with a fellow student. Those who survived became shinobi. As a soon-to-graduate student, Zabuza took it a step further-he slaughtered every single one of the other students. The death-match exams were discontinued, giving Zabuza his first claim to fame.
But that's all ancient history. It kinda felt good to know something that obviously shocked the Leaf nin-Academy teachers in Kiri make a point of jamming the names of every infamous Mist shinobi into our heads. It's almost like they're proud of our bloody history or something.
But anyway. Zabuza (well, technically, his clone) instantly jumped into attack mode after the history lesson was done, going after the Uchiha and pounding him until blood came out of his mouth. I twitched.
Hmph. Where's all your 'superior skill' now?
(Before you go all 'She's a heartless witch' on me, let me say in my defense that I didn't think he'd die. No way-the way he carried on? Besides, there were five other Genin present. So yeah, he'd be fine. Not that I care, but still.)
Naruto set a bunch of Shadow Clones on him, but they were thrown off. He tossed Sasuke a Windmill Shuriken (man, that thing was cool), which the Emo Kid promptly threw at Zabuza-the real one. Zabuza dodged it only to see a second one in its shadow, and when he dodged that one, it turned out to be a shape-changed Naruto. (Yeah, I'm just as confused as you are.)
The blond flung a kunai at Zabuza and forced him to dodge yet again, meaning he had to stop casting the Water Prison jutsu, and Kakashi got back in the game. Zabuza attacked him with a Water Dragon, but Kakashi copied it with the Sharingan and both Dragons collapsed. The Leaf Jonin finally threw Zabuza back with a gigantic wave of water.
And then two senbon needles came flying out of nowhere and pierced Zabuza right through the neck.
"He's dead," a moderately cheery-sounding and in no way familiar voice announced.
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I looked up in disbelief-He died that fast?-to see a short shinobi in green fighting garb. The voice was disconcerting-I couldn't tell if it was male or female-but it sounded like a kid's voice. The ninja had black hair and wore a white and red mask which, upon closer inspection, turned out to have Kiri's symbol on it.
Anbu? I wondered apprehensively, looking at the mask. Mist's mark had no slash through it, so it didn't look like this kid was rogue. But which was easier to believe-a kid who was a Missing Nin without a cut forehead protector, or a kid who was in the Anbu? Neither one sounded all that believable.
Kakashin approached Zabuza's fallen body and examined it, checking for a pulse. Silence. Since he isn't freaking out and telling us to head for the hills, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say..Zabuza's dead.
The thought alone was so odd I couldn't bring myself to voice it. Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist, Kiri's most infamous rogue ninja, had been brought down in two seconds by a kid and some knitting needles?! Wrong. So very wrong.
"Thank you very much. I have long waited for an opportunity to kill Zabuza," the kid said lightly, bowing his head briefly. Ah. So he..er, she…um, it (well, c'mon, I couldn't tell!) is Anbu. But it's just a kid! What the heck?!
"What the hell!" Naruto shouted, pointing a furious finger at the Anbu kid. "Who are you?!"
Ika raised a pale eyebrow. "The boy-" Yay, somebody knew the kid's gender! "-has been hunting Zabuza, wears a Mist mark, is apparently Anbu, and has just defeated our enemy. What else is necessary to know?"
I smirked. Ika's irritating know-it-all personality can be fun when she turns it on other people.
The Anbu boy teleported himself down beside the body of the Missing Nin. "I must now dispose of the body," he murmured. "Farewell." And then he was gone.
I glanced sideways at Kasu, who was grinning like a fool.
"Well," he said in a disgustingly cheerful tone, "that was extremely weird!"
Tch. Doesn't that just sum it up perfectly.
To Be Continued